Tuesday, June 24, 2014

I think part of the problem with Africa is that we haven't been able to modernize our traditional institutions to respond to challenges of our times. Instead we have opted to kill them altogether and reproduce Western-designed ones in a copy-and-paste fashion. It makes us culturally hollow and brings about lack of cultural values from which innovation and confidence can be cultivated. I believe some of our political behaviors can easily be understood if we bring culture into the equation. Why are strongmen still revered in African politics? Well, my question is can our traditional institutions provide us with answers to this question? My answer is, of course, yes! The Chinese have managed, in a way, to do this. We need to add the African characteristics to our politics and development agenda. As it stands now, we are so busy trying to produce flocks of 'westernized societies' inside Africa. My thesis is part of the reason we have failed is the implicit resistance by our people. They are Africans through and through, they won't budge at our attempt to Europeanize them. Note that Europeanization is NOT modernization. I can argue that few among our elites know this!

Sabatho:

Once you “modernize” the “tradition” it is no longer a tradition. It becomes a modernity, which is un-African, and disastrous. Why not “traditionalize” the “modern” to fit the “challenges of our times”? Whose times are they? Whose challenges are we talking about?

Is it possible for us to think beyond the traditional/modern binary? When colonialists came, they dubbed everything that existed in Africa traditional. By tradition was meant unchanging/static, backward, ahistorical, dark etc. Thus, we must be aware that our discourse itself is not autonomous. It keeps reproducing the epistemic structure that we seem to be attacking (See Partha Chattrejee’s Nationalist Thought and Colonial World; and Valentine Mudimbe’s The Invention of Africa).

The traditional African systems in most parts of this continent had no “strong men”, be it at household or societal level. The “womanization” of the African female is a colonial import (Oyerenke Oyewumi, The Invention of Women), just like the despotic leaders that we are now referring to as strongmen (Mahmood Mamdani, Citizen and Subject). They are products of modernity, codeword for capitalism.

In Tanzania, one of the most patriarchal and despotic “tribes” (yes, a tribe too was a colonial invention) today are probably the Kurias.However, Abuso’s (1980) A Traditional History of the Abakuria: C.A.D. 1400—1914 reveals that pre-colonial territorial societies in Bukuria were not a “tribe”; nor did they have despotic rulers.

As for precolonial state formation in Bukuria, the earliest administrative units among the Kuria were kin-based. As the society grew up, thanks to the population increase and fusion of different splinter groups, a more complex system of administration developed. Thus, from clan rule, the Abakuria developed a territorial rule. Each territorial community formed its own system of administration, which was independent of other territorial communities or provinces (“omugai”). There was no federal government that united all the Abakuria.

Two hierarchies of power existed in each province: the spiritual hierarchy, led by the Omuraguri (literally, medicine man) as well as the temporal hierarchy led by the Omugambi (the dreamer-prophet). Both the Omuraguri and the Omugambi were the two most important figures in the Iritogo(the territorial Council of Elders), the supreme decision-making body of the province. While Omuraguri was in charge of religious matters, his consent was needed for the Omugambi to declare war. The Omugambi “was appointed to his post by the people’s consensus… and they could as well remove him if they were dissatisfied with his services”. His office was checked by both the Council and the dreamer prophet: As such the Omugambi “was just a spokesperson; he gave no binding orders” (Abuso 1980, 163).

From the above explanation we can see that the pre-colonial African “tribe” was not static. It was dynamic, changing from one form to another, be it in terms of composition, culture and political systems. As for political systems, we can see that they were not tribal in any sense of the word. They were territorial, embracing everyone who was willing to be a loyal member of the territorial community. A person in charge of administrative matters was not an absolute ruler, for there existed mechanisms of checks and balances (See also Mamdani, M. 2010. Saviors and Survivors: Darfur, Politics, and the War on Terror; Usman, Y.B. 2006. Beyond Fairy Tales: Selected Historical Writing ofYusufu Bala Usman;andVail, L. Ed. 1989. The Creation of Tribalism in Southern Africa. ).

The imposition of colonial rule changed everything. “The colonial administrators” argues Abuso (1980, 15) “had a policy of putting the colonised communities into confined blocks called ‘tribes’, which might not necessarily have existed before. Such a confinement made the people be much more conscious of their identity of ‘tribe’ as opposed to their own neighbours who were of different tribe. Societies and communities which had perhaps hitherto taken their existence for granted soon regarded themselves as ‘tribes’ different from other groups. In such a way the ‘tribe’ of Abakuria was created”. The colonial government installed new chiefs who had absolute powers, and who were directly answerable, not to their people, but to the colonial administration. The mechanisms of checks and balances, such as the Council of Elders and the dreamer-priest, were dismantled to give the new chief despotic powers.

Our problem, I think, lies in the uncritical embracement of modernity, even when we claim to be against it. We have been imprisoned in the colonial discourse and we do not show any effort of salvaging ourselves. In Hind Swaraj, Mahatma Gandhi chastises modernity and blames Indian problems on “railways”, “doctors” and “lawyers” introduced by the British. India’s future, according to Gandhi, lies in the past! We have to go back to where the British found us. Is it possible? If at all possible, is it plausible?Shangwe: Yours is a critique of the classic theory of modernization, which I also share. The theory essentially attempts to Europeanize/westernize the rest of the world in a one-size-fits-all style without paying attention to cultural and historical contexts of societies. It is ridiculous, the thought of it. I am talking about this aware of the proposition that there are 'multiple modernities'- meaning there is no single model of modernization. I also do not believe in the traditional-modern dichotomy. I believe that modernization is cyclic, not revolutionary. As such, traditional elements are an integral part of modernity. They mingle. The idea of going back to the drawing board i.e the past/tradition does not mean we go there and stay there! The traditional is a frame of reference from which we abandon the bad, cherish the good and transmit it to our generation, and use it to respond to the challenges of our times. Saying we can't mordenize the traditional is to dismiss it's fluidity and development. You are deductively assuming that the traditional is static, a fallacious era already committed by Western proponents of the classic theory of modernization.

Monday, June 23, 2014

We would like to introduce you to our newly formed Thinking Africa blog which we will be using in the build-up to the 2014 Thinking Africa colloquium to be held in September. You can visit the blog here. The blog will collect together interviews with participants in our upcoming colloquium, the theme of which is ‘NGOs and Social Justice in Africa’.

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Sexual harassment at work can have very serious consequences both for the
harassed individual as well as for other working women who experience it
secondhand.

The consequences to the individual employee can be many and serious. In some
situations, a woman who is undergoing the sexual harassment risks losing her
job or the chance for a promotion if she refuses to give in to the sexual
demands of someone in authority.

In other situations, the unwelcome
sexual conduct of co-workers makes the working conditions hostile and
unpleasant - putting indirect pressure on her to leave the job. Sometimes, the
employee is so traumatized by the harassment that she suffers serious emotional
and physical consequences—and very often, becomes unable to perform her job
properly.

According to a survey conducted by the Tanzania Media Women’s Association
TAMWA (Sheikh and Gabba), the majority of sexually harassed women suffer from
some debilitating stress reaction, including anxiety, depression, headaches,
sleep disorders and lowered self-esteem. In addition, victims of sexual
harassment are put in the stressful position of losing their jobs and incomes
which impacts on their health and incomes.

The consequences to working women as a group are no less serious. Sexual
harassment has a cumulative, demoralizing effect that discourages women from
asserting themselves within the workplace, while among men it reinforces
stereotypes of women employees as sex objects.

Severe or pervasive sexual harassment in certain types of businesses creates
a hostile or intimidating environment that causes women to leave their jobs and
look elsewhere for work or discourages them from seeking those jobs in the
first place.

The effect on the morale of all employees can also be serious. Both men and
women in a workplace can find their work disrupted by sexual harassment even if
they are not directly involved. Sexual harassment can have a demoralizing
effect on everyone within range of it, and it often negatively impacts company
productivity on the whole.

From
the survey, it was learnt that women victims of sexual harassment are not aware
that the use of power and authority by male bosses to coerce sex is a crime,
not until it becomes indecent assault, that is when the women realize the man
has crossed the parameters of good behavior, and even then, less than one per
cent report the cases to higher authorities or to law enforcers.

In
1998, the Sexual Offences Special Provisions Act (SOSPA 1998) was enacted. It is
a commendable Act in a number of respects and it is much wider in scope and
application. It also offers victims of sexual offences greater legal
protection. The Act is more victim friendly, woman friendly and unlike previous
legislation on sex related crimes it is more compassionate towards victims.

For example, prior to SOSPA, only the
State could impose Fines against offenders. SOSPA changed that and law courts
became empowered to impose Fines against an offender and Compensation to
victims of sexual violence as ‘retribution for the harm done to them’ (S.131
(1) (2).

Compensation awards in sex crime cases
are revolutionary in that they recognize the real victim in the crime.
Moreover, compensation awards are dispensed in conjunction with other
punishments including imprisonment, fine and/or corporal punishment.

SOSPA protects the integrity and
anonymity of children and women victims of sex crimes in court records and in
judicial proceedings by requiring child victims of sexual abuse and women
victims of sexual offences to testify in camera.

Victims of sexual harassment not only
live with the fear of losing their jobs, possibly their only source of income,
they would also be afraid of societal disapproval. Women fear being ostracized.
They fear stigma. They fear being isolated from the body politic. And a woman
who dares to speak up against sexual harassment becomes not only a professional
pariah, but also a social outcast.

However, the law should take into account, the mental and
emotional damage suffered by the victim. It should take into account the damage
to dignity, honor and reputation of the victim. The law should also take into
account the loss of self-esteem by the victim and therefore, impose a jail
penalty on the offender, fines as well as compensation commensurate with the
damage suffered.

Since it is left to the discretion of
the court, then it is important that Magistrates and Judges show compassion to
the victim by giving her a fair hearing and protect the victim’s self-esteem by
rebuking defense lawyers of the accused when they cast doubt and aspersions on
the victim’s dignity and honor.

The fine imposed currently of 200,000/=
Tanzanian Shillings or USD 150 is insignificant. There is room to consider
higher fines and awards as well as a mandatory jail sentence.

Friday, June 6, 2014

1st Children’s Book Festival centred on fiction books; opening with a ‘Book Parade’ to launch ‘Place a Book in the Hands of Every Child’ advocacy campaign. It also commemorates the Day of the African Child (with this year’s Global Theme: ‘Right to Participate: Let Children be Seen and Heard’).

Monday, June 2, 2014

Planners are first and foremost public servants. Therefore they ought to adhere to their respective professions and not be partisans. However, planning does not occur in a political vacuum. As such they also need to have a deep and dynamic understanding of the political and cultural contexts in which they are operating.

In the case of urban planning, this would also entail an understanding of the varying, and often conflicting interests of political parties, civil societies, private sectors and the citizenry at large. Since the wider public includes all these entities, planners as public servants ought to be conversant with cost-benefit analysis. Skills in such an analysis, coupled with a high level of integrity, would enable them to balance and meet, with relative success, the needs and demands of the people in regards to a given plan.

The following analogy from a debate on whether the public corporation responsible for supplying electricity in Tanzania should buy power plants from an ostensibly corrupt dealer illustrate this need for a balancing act. By way of analogy, one debater argued that even if a cost-benefit analysis of a predominantly Muslim society indicated that the provision of pork would significantly reduce malnutrition at a lower cost compared to other meat, one would not go ahead with the plan given that this meat is not acceptable in that society. In this case, he aptly argued, the second best option - beef - would be more acceptable and thus less costly, both socially and economically. This shows that a cost-benefit analysis of any public plan should be sensitive enough to also necessarily include cultural/religious and related costs.

One would also expect public planners to be skillful in conflict resolution. As relatively neutral actors in planning, by virtue of being public servants who are supposed to be non-partisans and with no conflict of interests, they could wield much influence in the decision-making process. By underscoring evidence-based cost-benefit analyses to other actors, they can prevent conflict resulting from lack of information or even knowledge and thus facilitate informed planning. When there is a stalemate between contending parties they can use their legitimacy as unbiased and trustworthy to mitigate or resolve conflict and thus build a consensus on a plan.

To plan is indeed to choose. We can choose plans that are non-starters. But we can also choose to have effective planning through the creation and sustenance of a critical mass of serious planners.

Karibu kwenye ulingo wa kutafakari kuhusu tunapotoka,tulipo,tuendako na namna ambavyo tutafika huko tuendako/Welcome to a platform for reflecting on where we are coming from, where we are, where we are going and how we will get there